Men's Lacrosse: Fiorito makes 20 saves in defeat at Cornell

Fiorito put on the best performance of his career against the high-powered Cornell offense. He racked up a career-high 20 saves and allowed only nine goals against the top-scoring offense in the nation.

Princeton’s final record is 4-8 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League, its worst finish since 1988.

The Tigers took to Schoellkopf Field hoping to pull a major upset, which would have boosted their chances of reaching the Ivy League Tournament. However, the poor fortune that has hurt the squad all year reared its head again against Cornell (11-2, 6-0), and with it all chances for the crippled team to redeem itself after an underperforming year.

Injuries have been the theme of the year for the troubled squad, as Princeton had to sit out 15 different players during the course of the season and saw four different players suffer season-ending blows. Senior attackman and co-captain Chris McBride was the latest player felled by injuries, as he suffered a torn oblique muscle in practice in the days leading up to the game, putting him out of action for what would have been his final opportunity to play in orange and black.

The afternoon started out very well for the Tigers. Princeton opened the game with a goal by sophomore midfielder Tucker Shanley six minutes into the first quarter and followed in the next two minutes with another two goals by sophomore midfielder Jeff Froccaro and senior midfielder Tyler Moni to take Princeton up 3-0.

Sophomore attackman Luke Armour then followed with his eighth goal of the season, scoring with two minutes left in the first period to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Tigers’ streak was snapped by Cornell attackman Jack Dudley with 30 seconds left in the quarter, but Princeton responded at the beginning of the second period. Freshman attackman Tom Schreiber, the Tigers’ top producer throughout the season, netted a pair of goals to give the Tigers a 6-1 advantage.

But that was as large as Princeton’s lead would get. Its offense sputtered over the next two periods, as Cornell scored seven consecutive goals in the following 28 minutes. The Big Red outshot Princeton 29 to 11 over the course of the second and third periods, allowing only so much room for Fiorito’s performance to help the Princeton squad.

Armour finally broke the string with his second goal of the game, coming from an assist by senior defenseman Long Ellis, cutting the hosts’ lead to 8-7. Princeton managed six shots over the following four minutes but found net with none of them, failing to tie the game. With two minutes to play, Ivy League scoring leader Rob Pannell scored his 34th goal of the game, all but sealing the game and an undefeated conference season for Cornell.

Princeton’s defense remained strong throughout the season, but it could not make up for its offensive deficiencies. The Tigers finished near the top of the conference in goals allowed, only three-tenths of a score per game behind league-leading Yale, but ranked a distant seventh of seven teams in scoring.

Even if the Tigers had pulled off the upset, they would not have qualified for the Ivy League Tournament, as Harvard sealed the final postseason bid with a 9-5 victory over Yale. Cornell, the top seed and host, will play the Bulldogs in the first round, while Penn faces Harvard in the other semifinal.

The Tigers proved they could play with the nation’s top teams — they led Cornell at halftime, defeated No. 3 Johns Hopkins 8-3 and was tied with then-No. 1 Syracuse in the fourth quarter at home. But Princeton’s inconsistent play against other teams doomed it to a short season.

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“We competed the entire season; we can play with the best teams,” Fiorito said. “If you look at our team, we had a few difficulties and things just didn’t go our way. The seniors deserved better this year ... This year was far different than any we’ve ever had. Next year we have a strong base and next year we have a lot to build on ... You can remember the feeling of losing and hopefully that will drive guys to work a lot over the summer.”